


hold me tight and don't let go

by unowenowl



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don't Post To Another Site, M/M, it was all a bad dream kiddos!, the canon can go rot, volume 7 episode 12 fix-it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:14:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22425388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unowenowl/pseuds/unowenowl
Summary: "It was all a dream. Just a dream. It doesn't matter that he can still see Clover's body on the back of his eyelids or smell the blood on his hands, or the desperate shouts of his niece. It's all fine. No reason to dwell on it anymore."Clover doesn't think so.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 21
Kudos: 131





	hold me tight and don't let go

**Author's Note:**

> i had initially posted this on tumblr in a frenzy and only now realized I have no reason as to why I shouldn't be able to put it here as well.
> 
> i've taken the wheel from canon, it apparently doesn't know what to do with good characters. like, you know, not kill them.

Qrow startles.

The first thing he notices is Clover, with his arm outstretched and with a deep frown on his face. He looks concerned.

He’s alive. He’s alive. He’s alive.

He takes a deep breath and clenches his fists so that he doesn’t touch him.

“Are you alright?” he turns his head towards Robyn. He sees her hand on his shoulder and only then starts to feel it.

“Yes. What happened?”

“You fell asleep,” Clover replies, “and just then you started to sound like you were in pain…”

“I’m fine,” he snaps. He rests his arms on his knees to stop them from shaking. It was just a dream, Qrow. And absolutely terrifying dream, sure, but just a dream. _Just a dream._ It doesn't matter that he can still see Clover's body on the back of his eyelids or smell the blood on his hands, or the desperate shouts of his niece. It's all fine. No reason to dwell on it anymore.

“Any news from James?” he asks.

Clover shakes his head and opens his mouth. Qrow pointedly looks at Tyrian Callows for the first time since he’s woken up. He can’t be sure, but experience tells him that Clover might press the issue regarding Qrow’s nightmare, and he doesn’t want to talk about it around a homicidal maniac that might manipulate the situation in his favour. The creep is smiling widely at him, as if he knows exactly what Qrow was dreaming about. He feels like throwing up just from looking at him.

Confirming his suspicions, Clover closes his mouth. Qrow is thankful.

“So what are you and the Happy Huntresses going to do from now?”, Clover asks instead, looking at Robyn. She cocks an eyebrow.

“That depends entirely on what Ironwood plans to do. Our interests will always side with Mantle.”

Hearing Mantle reminds Qrow of Ruby’s voice screaming over the intercoms that James is abandoning them in the favour of protecting Atlas. He takes his scroll out to remind himself that it was all a dream. The scroll is devoid of any alert of him or any of the kids being declared criminals to be arrested. He lets out a puff of air.

He can feel Clover’s gaze on him, a light tingle on his face and can hear him talking, even if Qrow’s not following the conversation at all. It’s oddly comforting.

By the time he focuses again on words, and not Clover’s voice, he realizes the conversation has moved to toast. Qrow smiles at the odd topic, but the two seem to get along for once, so he stays silent.

When they reach Atlas, Qrow almost hopes he’ll escape a conversation. Clover seems preoccupied giving orders to the rest of the Ace-Ops to detain Tyrian. But he turns around to face Qrow before he can disappear.  
“Qrow,” he says softly, and all of Qrow’s resolve to keep this to himself dissipates.  
“What?”  
“Are you alright?” Clover comes closer. Their hands almost touch. Qrow is much too aware of everything right now. He tries to think of how to phrase things but in the end, he just blurts out:  
“You died.”  
Clover flinches. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t that. Qrow suddenly finds he can’t look at him. For some reason, he keeps talking.

“I don’t know, it was a weird dream. Ruby was calling us to tell us that James was declaring martial law and abandoning Mantle, and then all of our scrolls were showing that the kids and I were to be arrested and then we all started fighting and then Tyrian Callows was trying to escape and he crashed the ship and me and you and him started fighting and then he killed you using my sword…” he says in a rushed breath. He finds that he can’t breathe. He can’t look at Clover, can’t do anything.

He feels the weight of Clover’s arms around his and almost startles. He feels his fingers in his hair before realizing that it’s a hug. The whole front of his body is warm and tingling, feeling acutely all points of contacts. It takes him a few seconds before realizing he should probably return the hug. He rests his head on Clover’s shoulder. He’d like to put it in the crook of Clover’s neck but he resists the urge.

They just stand like that for a few moments, in silence, feeling each other’s heartbeats.  
“I’m alive,” Clover whispers in his left ear and Qrow can barely suppress a shudder. “It’s alright. Everything is alright,” Clover repeats. Qrow nods. He takes a deep breath before stepping away.  
“Erhm,” he coughs, “Thank you.”  
“Anytime,” Clover says seriously, “You can always come to me. I’m here for you.”  
Qrow doesn’t know how to react to that, so he just nods. He still feels his body tingling from hugging Clover earlier.

“Besides,” Clover says in a much lighter tone, smiling already, “my semblace is good fortune, have you forgotten? There’s no way I’m dying in any other way than by old age and with a husband at my side.”

Before Qrow can fully process what he’s heard, Clover is gone. Qrow chuckles. If it had been his past self, he’d have probably gone drinking, not knowing how to deal with that.  
Now he’d rather go check on his nieces.

And on the way he can think of a way of asking Clover out.

**Author's Note:**

> if you guys wanna talk, either on comments or at queerpyrrha on tumblr


End file.
